Phil Craddock
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thanks Owen. will take a look at this.
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thanks Chris
I was also thinking of doing it in sections with a little overlap – if the customer is happy doing it this way as the stripe would be gloss black.
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anyone ??????
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totally agree as I do 100’s of custom bonnet stripes even for MINI dealers as attached …
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my customers demand that they are exact as MINI intended so parallel wont do – only the new 2007-2011 MINI ONE/Cooper/Diesel have parallel stripes all others are shaped and Cooper S are longer !
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looks very fiddly Jon !!!!
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believe me I have the patience of a saint with some of the work I have to do all whilst customers are watching !!!
Just didn’t like the feel of the 3M material compared to that of APA or Hexis.
Phil
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cheers Jon.
Not all MINI bonnet stripes are the same and they are not straight either.
It also depends on what model and year you have as there are 2 generations and they all differ.
I cut and fit from £40+VAT upwards depending on the vinyl color required and printed/laminated with a contrast edge are more £££.
FYI the types are:
2001-2006 R50 Cooper/One/Diesel (hatch and cab)
2001-2006 R53 Cooper S (hatch and cab)
2007-2010 R56 One/Cooper
2007-2010 R56 Cooper Diesel (turbo)
2007-2010 R56 Cooper S (turbo)
2007-2010 R55 Clubman One/Cooper
2007-2010 R55 Clubman Diesel (turbo)
2007-2010 R55 Clubman Cooper S (turbo)
2007-2010 R57 Cab One/Cooper
2007-2010 R57 Cab Cooper S (turbo)‘phew ! you can use the same 07-10 stripes for One/Cooper on the R55 and R57 as with the R56 Cooper S and Cab.
Any more info just give me a buzz 😉
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it may be a fad but i’m making hey while the sun shines as I have loads of Carbon work on MINIs recently and may it continue.
Doing another full roof wrap next week amongst other items!
I’m finding that a lot of the MINI community who can’t afford the JCW real carbon pieces (which you need your Lotto numbers to come up to afford) are going the vinyl route 🙂
I am currently using the Hexis black carbon over the 3M stuff though and its lovely to work with.
Not done much full wrap of matt black though only de-chroming of MINIs in matt.
Phil
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if MOT is an issue do them on the inside although you need to make a template for rear view mirror or any rain sensor units.
Do loads of these and just use any decent polymeric vinyl – its usually matt black with the tuning guys !!
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hi Peter, I know about the warranty issues but any BMW graphic or decal is classed by BMW as an Accessory from the Accessories catalogue and only has 1 year warranty anyway.
I have done replacement warrenty work on BMW graphics for MINI dealers on 1 year old vinyls supplied to me direct from MINI UK.
The old Silver they used is horrible and they still only use a satin silver whereas I use Avery 800 series which has a nice high gloss to it – much better I think.
My main MINI dealer is based in London, I was there yesterday a full 16.5 hour round trip doing 5 MINIs all vinyl was my supplied either Hexis or Avery material – they prefer for me to us my own source but other dealers will always want me to use MINI UK supplied !
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hope it all goes well Derek.
I’m doing 4 MINIs in one day at a dealer this week !!! -
on first gen 2001-2004 (pre facelift) they twist off but on facelift 2004-2010 they are from under the roof linning and its a bugger and time consuming thing to do especially when at a dealers – I usually ask the dealer to remove as a lot of trim has to be taken off also.
Therefore I have pre-cut templates as depending on the spec of the MINI the roof arials all differ in size and shape.
I personally don’t like the vinyl BMW use and always prefer if asked by a dealer to use my own.
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I have only seen the Hexis – it is lush John and sure they can do a discounted price if you speak nicely to them ??
Not sure if APA do a version yet but worth a call ??
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Can you open the Quark files ??
Quark is a page make-up program, great for designing brochures and that kind of print. I would not use Quark for large format out put though.
Did they send you the fonts as it may be that the pdf has not embedded the fonts correctly at source.
Give your customer a buzz to resend the file. CMYK not rgb.
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it was some Image Perfect 5700 range from Spandex – just had some in the studio that fitted the bill when the truck was here.
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cheers Liam
see us designers aren’t all bad 🙂
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I have Golf in soon which is black and I’m putting black vinyl on it !!!!
again it will give the …’what the … is that…" feel that the customer wants.
I also have a project where we have a very nice airbrushed image all 4 color that is going onto a metallic brown car so I’m printing onto clear vinyl so it only appears as you walk around it and the metallic brown paint will make the color in the graphic metallic 🙂
subtle and cool at the same time 😉
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totally shocked and condolences to John’s family.
although I never met him it was nice to know him on the forum.
he will be sadly missed.
Phil
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I bought a sample roll of a really glossy and quite 3d looking carbon from MDP but its like a foil with a silver adhesive side and didn’t last very long on exterior work so don’t use it now – but it looks good !!!
defeats the object really – looks good but doesn’t last the distance !!
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how about keeping in monotone so different colors of grey to build up an image.
I have often done parts of a company logo as a ‘ghosted’ image in the background of a design in the same color as the van or as a mat or gloss clear so its subtle but when the light hits it at different angles or times of the day then it appears – its fun to experiment too !
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I agree Rob, when you find something you are comfortable using there is no need to change 😉
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it does but sometimes like this week I had a MINI here with 8 year old stripes that when the old vinyl was taken off it left all the adhesive – so washed the bonnet in WD40 for 20 mins then cleaned off with Surface cleaner and viola almost like new 😀
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WD40 great for removing tar stains.
then I wash with warm water and use Avery Surface cleaner to prep paintwork and clean off any WD40 residue
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thanks Daral.
I have been using the Hexis and APA carbon and yes in the vehicle mod fraternity its a high return and I have a lot of customers wanting it. But still expensive to buy in though.
APA have just bought out a Red Carbon and have a customer wanting that already !!
Its a real shame about the Chrome and Gold as these vehicles are getting totally slated in the car forums as tacky but they don’t understand the time and effort it takes to do such a wonderful job – too much bling for some people.
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MINI Parklane (London) are showcasing anumber of Chrome and Gold Chrome wrapped JCW MINIs at the moment – they look incredible in the photos but not sure on what material used and the life of the material !!
I have a few customers asking about Chrome vinyl and I always put them off as the small bits I have done is a nitemare to keep scratch free !!!
Daral – how can it be done successfully ???
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um, might have go 🙂
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I love Avery 835 very glossy and lushus to work with as its a cast – great for vipers and such like.
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Martin, Jpegs are RGB and coming from a designer/litho print background I would only use jpegs for web activity as they loose to much info when saved out – but that’s just my opinion.
I would rather have a larger file to rip and have a very sharp printed image than a compromise on the quality – but as I say thats just my way of working 😉
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try as a 25% finished size @ 300dpi. Save as a tiff file with LZW compression on.
Don’t save as a jpeg or giff files, these are for web and email use really.
Also if you have the file in layers (photoshop) then save as a flattened file so it will save you a lot of mb and open quicker. But save the flat vesion as a copy so you have the layered file as a back up if you need to go back and amend anything in the document.
When I did the last roof wrap on a MINI Clubman (7ft long) the flattened tif file was approx 400mb.
hope this helps and I’m sure others will have a different approach to the same affect 😉
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many thanks – all in a days work !!!
and Robert, I’m looking for a pic of myself to upload but very shy so i can’t find one 🙄 😛
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many thanks.
I’m just working on one of the new R56 Cooper S MINI Challenge race cars which hit the circuit in anger this time next week !!!
I have 5 sets of livery to complete and in the post for Tuesday morning – so guess I’m working over the bank hols then !
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thanks Peter.
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thanks guys 🙂
will do Robert – and why can’t I send a PM, do I need to spend my hard earned ££ 😛
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ha ha that’s on a different forum 😮
but usually known as CrazyPhil in other worlds !!!
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thanks Craig – I do other vehicles too but its been a lot of MINIs during the last 3 weeks !!
want to do more vans though !
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another detail shot …
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hi John just got your PM but I can’t return a PM to you (admin ;)) ??!!
anyway, Photoshop is purely a tool to help do the job and its one of those things that you need just to be using it everyday to pick things up.
I’ve not had any training in my pro career (30 years in September) and its all down to having a go, learning by mistakes and I’m still learning everyday. I’m from the old school of magic marker visualisation on paper then onto mac for production.
But from a designers perspective its a case of knowing how you want the finished item to look and use the technology and equipment to facilitate this.
the Ace of Clubs was a mega file almost 400 mb in its layered state but I knew how I wanted it and 3 hours later job done, a quik jpeg to client and onto the press. I then did 4 or 5 test prints at small size until I was happy with the print. Now my vinyl supplier want to use my images and story for their PR !!
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one of my fav’s
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this was an interesting one ….. !
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a few more MINIs …. theme here then 🙂
and if you have seen the latest issue of Modern Mini Magazine you would have seen this first pic as the cover story 🙂
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hi John, no it was printed onto base white vinyl, laminated. I originated the image from clients brief which as … give me something stunning and not seen before … this is were 30 years as a graphic designer helps !
So the process was about 2 months in the planning as the roof was being designed even before the car was delivered to the dealership !!
But it was a mega layer photoshop file produced 25% size, sized in Illustrator and printed out.
I also had to create a template to hand cut around the roof spoiler as it is bonded on at factory – so only one chance of getting it right !! no pressure there then !
I have a Mutoh 1204, Summa D120 and a EasyMount laminator.
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a few more …
these Mirror Caps are a nitemare !!!!
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ah you kids !!!
😉
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what material did you use Chris ??
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bloomin’ footballers eh !!!!
have you done any chrome stuff Jon ??
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Park Lane MINI (London) had a new Cooper S JCW wrapped in chrome @ £45k !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have lots of questions from my customers about chrome wrap and thus far have talked them all out of it as it must be a nitemare to fit ??
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it seems to be the ‘trend’ of the moment in car modding.
Looks a very neat job too.
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looks good Ewan.
I did my first lot of Carbon wraps last week using the APA material – very good stuff too.
a couple of pics ….
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thanks Andrew and Robert – I fully understand about the pricing as we all have to equate our own overheads and price structure into our work.
Also thanks for the heads up on the material – I shall research WS to see what I can find.
It does look stunning Andrew – a fantastic job.
Phil
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I have heard of a bit of software called Streamline many moons ago which converts photoshop images into a vector graphic but Illustrator can do that now anyway.
hope you can get it sorted.
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hi Andrew – does look fantastic.
What is the material you have used as I have a full matt black wrap to do and worry about it glossing during the fitting.
So any pointers greatfully received. Also, hope you don’t mind me asking but what was your ball park ££ to do this ??
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unfortunately if the file size and image quality is too low then its a case of ‘crap in- crap out’ if you know what I mean.
If the quality or sharpness isn’t there to start with you wont improve it – I would quote the customer to re-create it or they send you a higher res or larger file/better image.
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agree – we take CC and debit too 😉
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we use a Paypal account for customer deposits ….simples 😉
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I always talked to our customers or prospective customers as a ‘Livery Consultancy’ angle and not that of a print shop.
Therefore they can be guided through a range of services because they always say …. " I got a van so how much to put graphics on it …." of which there is a multitude of answers.
There are 2 things I ask my customers regarding vehicle graphics as it is down to:
1. your imagination or how ‘creative’ you want the job, i.e. a printed design that encompasses your brand id, if you have one. Or just the phone number and web address ??
2. your budget, how much have you got to spend then this usually dictates the degree or level of time you can allocate for design and then take into consideration material required like cast or wrapping or polymeric, the production time pre and post production – how many of us cost up weeding time ?? and fitting including cleaning prep of the vehicle.
If you outline these to customers they then (hopefully) will see the benefit of using a professional and not just any old sign shop.
I had to call out a heating engineer the other week and even before he walked through the door he wanted £75+VAT call out fee before he even asked me what the problem was !! so be brave and get a formula that works and stick to your guns.
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Peter – yeah had to print it as I couldn’t find a vinyl too.
Nicola – wish the customer want to do a full wrap but he has other plans as I’m wrapping the roof in Carbon in a few weeks also doing all the chrome detail in carbon too 😉
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yep, we have 2 or 3 JCW’s booked in for full wraps in the next few weeks 🙂 one being for a dealer so no pressure as I will be wrapping it in their showroom as they are 3 hours from my studio !
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aha Nicola I see – well its based on the GULF racing colors which is usually the centre stripe solid orange and the rest of the car light blue but as its a blue car to start with I reversed the color scheme – it looks stunning in the flesh honest 😉
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thanks Nicola – do you mean the stripe colors or the black with red text on the BarCode roof ??
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hopefully the 651 will do the trick – also testing some Image Perfect vinyl – but the wheel cover does need a dam good de grease and clean before application.
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plenty of on-line libraries for hi-res images and inspiration then I tweek them to my needs and clients requirements.
also as a designer I create my own images with adobe illustrator and photoshop before producing as hi-res files.
I also use illustrator as a pure digital illustration tool again before creating as hi-res before production.
Phil
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hi Nicholas, what do you mean by fills ??
Phil
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cheers matty
I suppose just as long as it get s a good de grease should be OK – I’m running a test with some Oracal 651 to see how it holds up.
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thanks guys – I’ll give APA a call.
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cheers Jon 😉
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cracking job Rich.
can you give me some more info on the hx20000 material and who makes/sells it.
ta
Phil -
thanks Dave.
um, I’m thinking that the clear route with the white part as cut vinyl will have to do.
The design is very complex and unusual so needs to be spot on.
I too have had the pooling or ripple effect when print onto silver but small jobs its do-able.
We have a Mutoh 1204 Vjet running eco solvent inks.
cheers
Phil -
anyone ????
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I use Illustrator and Photoshop for the creative part of the job then export these files at final 100% size into the rip on the press – so basically the rip is only printing the file and not doing any of the artwork production.
Even when I use Composer for cut only graphics I still do all the fiddly artwork as illustrator files and import into the rip.
I find that you can control all the elements of ‘how the job will look’ in Illustrator/Photoshop and let the rip well rip 😉
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and its also down to what the quality of the original image is – sometimes we receive files that are copies of copies and so on – so you’re onto a looser before you start.
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1/4 size @300 dpi should be fine.
remember though jpegs need converting from RGB to CMYK.
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looks awesome !
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don’t print from jpeg unless you want a pixcellated image as jpegs compress too much image info (detail) as they are for email and web use not print really. And jpegs are rgb not cmyk unless you manually change them in photoshop but you wil find that they are probably 72dpi and small physical size so wont pro up to any decent quality hence pixcellation !!
I use adobe illustrator and usually import a photoshop tiff file into my illustrator document to send to the rip.
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feeling the chill too as our heating has packed up so no production today !!!
gives me a chance to get some design work sorted !!
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agree – just machine polish would give a better finish thus enabling a better price if sold on ????
either way its a long job to do right.
I had a customers car in a few weeks back for a full make-over and they had tried to remove some bonnet stripes themselves and made a complete c**k-up of it leaving me with a mountain to climb before I could start the new work !!
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I know an extra expense but a Machine Polish would be the only way to clear any ghosting.
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or print on a gerber edge with a flood coat white as the last color.
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no worries Bob.
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just use any colored cast vinyl unless you need to print a special cmyk mixed color ??
I normally use Avery 800 or 900 depending on the job or APA Super 70 is pretty lush although not a cast but is a very good material.
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many thanks Simon.
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shame you didn’t get the job to do !!!
most annoying !
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yep we have fitted many a BMW supplied but prefer to cut my own – I do it in 2 sections as apposed to the 3 that come from MINI UK.
usually the quality of the vinyl used by BMW is not so good though.
Its not necessary to remove the gutter trim though – if careful you can cut 5mm from the gutter edge or wrap under the gutter.
Experience of the MINI I know that a lot of the trim parts are one way fixings and tend to like to ‘snap’ when being removed – so be very careful !!
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they do tend to go to a ‘local sign shop’ but I do work for a main dealer in London and its a 3 hour trek each way for me to travel to but they prefer to use me for my skill and knowledge of their brand and customers requirements – which is nice !
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wish I had 2 or 3 peoples help and I usually get 1 day to turn cars around – not ideal but we get customers from all over.
I’m currently trying to get more commercial work through the door – some very impressive wraps there.
Do you offer design service as well or just print and implementation??
Phil
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dealerships are tough nuts to crack – I’m still working on them !!!
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thanks Robert – I think the suppliers I have used class it as a ‘mid-term’ vinyl or 5-7 year.
I was told by APA that their base digi vinyl is 7 year though.
I would love to use cast for everything but it comes at a price though !
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just do the bonnet or roof Robert – that’s what I’m planning on offering the MINI tuning guys – a full wrap price may scare them off !!!!
the white APA is really nice and subtle – one of those things where you don’t really see it until close up.
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excellent work
– how many of you work on wrapping the large vans just out of interest – as I work by myself and have some big stuff coming in soon !
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the APA is a matt wrap vinyl. I have a sample of both the APA and the 3M and the 3M seems to have a slightly larger weave design – both very lush though.
APA cheaper.
I have been trying to experiment wrapping BMW Mini mirror cap covers today and its a bloody nitemare as I haven’t yet achieved a decent end result – very tricky, like wrapping a football perfectly as the mirror cap covers are very round !!!
more practice required but I’ll get there !
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thanks Neil and Nik appreciate your kind words.
Phil
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thanks for the tips Owen – we need to know about washing and after care as customers always ask or we tell them how to look after their vinyl.
Need to chat to APA to see what they suggest.
cheers
Phil -
its a BMW/MINI standard graphic – we are cheaper than a BMW dealership to supply and fit – although I also do them for MINI dealerships !!!
every MINI is different 🙂
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also remember that the fact that we put vinyl onto vehicles is that they can be returned to their original state at a later date if need be – something not possible with paint or changing metal to carbon panels which would be immensly expensive.
I know the APA is cheaper than 3M and I have a price book in the studio and I think is available at 1500 wide – but then that’s fine as if I need to produce ‘cut’ items in smaller parts then you just trim the material to the width/length you need to get through your plotter.
Scott from APA didn’t tell me about wear and tear though – only not to over stretch the stuff.
but it amazes me that customers seem to think that vinyl is like paint and therefore they never need to worry about wear and tear during washing.
I tell all my customers – No Car wash, No Jet wash, light sponge and leathering off only on fine cut designs – but they never listen do they!!
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thanks Shane – I have almost 30 years in the design business but doing vehicles full time for the past 4 or 5 years and loving every minute – well apart from trying to run a business in these hard times !!!
Also we seem to be experimenting with different vinyl and suppliers at the moment mostly down to costs and such like.
We had the chaps from APA come and visit last week and have some lovely stuff to work with so looking forward to more experimenting.
here is our latest creation …..
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thank you for taking the time to show us your work, but please attach all pictures within this thread using the upload facilities provided.
and did these 2 yesterday !!
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I was the MINI Challenge main championship supplier for the 2007 series – 40 car grid and did every one !!!
one of the main responsibilities was being at each round of the championship in the paddock sorting out any graphical damage the cars had – which was a lot – and got to see all the racing from the pit lane too !!
I try to be as original I as can in my design work and now have it copied all over the world even by BMW whom I do work for through the MINI dealer network !
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thanks one and all.
my background is almost 30 years in graphic design, exhibition and marketing working for a lot of high street brands – but now doing vehicle livery design and implementation full time.
I obviously specialise in the MINI brand and do work for a few MINI/BMW dealers but want more commercial work. Also do a few race teams too and worked with Benetton F1 a few years back 🙂
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thanks Owen for the advice – need to experiment on my own car before unleasing on a customers.
We deal with a lot of MINIs and all very curved especially the bonnet so it will be very interesting.
The rep from APA did say about not over stretching it. It is cheaper than the 3M so with it both being a very expensive material to buy in we need to get a good group of customers projects in before spending a lot of hard earned ££ to purchase the material.
Phil
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had a visit from Scott @ APA today – the cf material looks awesome !!!